Histamine receptor expression on peripheral blood lymphocytes is influenced by specific and nonspecific activation.

Histamine is a physiological mediator which exerts both effector and regulatory functions through its receptors on various cells. The aim of the study was to investigate changes in histamine receptor expression on peripheral blood lymphocytes affected by stimulation with both specific and nonspecific stimuli. Lymphocytes were obtained from both healthy and allergic subjects. Cells were incubated with various allergens (mixed grass pollen, Lolium perenne, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus 1, bee venom, phospholipase A2) and nonspecific (fMLP, PMA/ionomycin, LPS) stimuli. The percentage of histamine-binding cells was determined with a fluorescence microscope after incubation with histamine-fluorescein. In control subjects histamine binding after stimulation with allergens was not significantly changed. In contrast, in allergic subjects stimulation with specific allergens resulted in significantly increased histamine binding. Nonspecific stimulation caused increased histamine binding to lymphocytes in both allergic subjects and healthy controls. We conclude that specific and nonspecific activation of lymphocytes is associated with increased expression of histamine receptors.

Effect of adenosine and histamine receptor stimulation on canine histamine release to pentagastrin.

The effects of adenosine and histamine 2 and histamine 3 receptor agonists on the regulation of gastric histamine release were examined in anesthetized mixed-breed dogs. All compounds were infused directly into the gastrosplenic artery to avoid perturbations in systemic hemodynamics, and the gastric histamine release was stimulated with pentagastrin. The histamine concentration in plasma samples was measured utilizing gas chromatography-negative-ion chemical ionization mass spectroscopy. Pentagastrin consistently stimulated gastric histamine release with the peak stimulation occurring at 5 min, while neither 30 nor 100 microM of adenosine altered the effect of pentagastrin on histamine release. In addition, theophylline at 20 microg/ml exhibited no effect on stimulated histamine release. The histamine 2 receptor agonist dimaprit, at 1 and 3 microM, attenuated pentagastrin-stimulated histamine release at the 5-min time period, but the difference was not sustained at later time points (histamine release from 1.4 +/- 0.6 to 92 +/- 18 ng/min at 5 min with pentagastrin alone; from 1.2 +/- 0.5 to 32 +/- 11 ng/min with pentagastrin plus 1 microM dimaprit, and from 2.0 +/- 1.1 to 32 +/- 9 ng/min with pentagastrin plus 3 microM dimaprit), while the H2 receptor antagonist cimetidine exhibited no effect on pentagastrin-stimulated histamine release. The histamine 3 receptor agonist (R)-alpha-methylhistamine attenuated the pentagastrin-stimulated histamine release at the 5- and 10-min time periods only at 1 microM without showing any effect at the higher (3 microM) concentration. Thioperamide, a H3 receptor antagonist, did not modify pentagastrin-stimulated histamine release. These data demonstrate that adenosine has no modulatory role on gastric histamine release, but histamine via H2 and H3 histamine receptors could modulate its own release but only to a modest degree as compared with the potent effect of the paracrine hormone somatostatin.

Histamine receptors on leukocytes are expressed differently in vitro and ex vivo.

The effect of histamine and histamine antagonists on the respiratory burst activity of leukocytes was studied. The activity was measured as zymosan-induced luminol-dependent chemiluminescence (CL) of isolated leukocytes and 1:2,500 diluted whole blood (WB). Histamine caused a dose-dependent inhibition of CL. For separated leukocytes the ID50 was 8 x 10(-5) M and for WB it was 1.5 x 10(-3) M. Diphenhydramine, an H1-antagonist increased the inhibitory effect of histamine while H2-antagonist cimetidine blocked the inhibition of CL of separated leukocytes. Cimetidine was not capable of reversing the effect of histamine on WB-CL. These data suggest that the histamine receptors on leukocytes are associated with Fc and/or complement receptors and the expression and function of histamine receptors can be studied by measuring the respiratory burst activity. The results also provide evidence of differences in histamine action in vitro and ex vivo conditions in WB.